Crossing Paths
by Sekirei1988
Summary: Bucky Barnes comes into contact with Phoenix, a chimera from another dimension, and a bond is forged between them. A shot series across the Captain America and Avengers films. Finished for now, barring ideas that come up from the Falcon and Winter Soldier show coming next year.
1. After The Fall

James Buchanan Barnes lay in the snow on his back, wondering how he managed to survive a fall from such a height. The snow was drifting down around him as he stared up at the sky through half-closed eyes. His left arm was reduced to half his bicep. The rest of it was lying close by. He had hit a hunk of rock jutting out from the mountain on the way down. His blood stained the snow where his stump lay. The combination of extreme cold and snow was the thing keeping him from bleeding out. His breathing was shallow. He was pretty sure he had some internal injuries. He felt afraid of dying out here alone. Steve was long gone now, no doubt believing him dead and unable to reach him, and the other Howling Commandos had no idea where he was either. So he just waited for the end. He was a dead man no matter what happened. He didn't blame Steve. They had tried to reach each other. Steve had tried to pull him back to safety. But they had been too far apart and the bar that he had been clinging to gave out, sending him falling to his apparent death.

Bucky just lay there in the snow. His other limbs still worked but it was like he had lost all his strength when he hit the ground. The night would be coming soon. He wanted to cry. Rage at his condition and how he was condemned to death in the mountains. But as much as he wanted to, Bucky felt nothing. Not even pain from the freezing conditions and the loss of his left arm. Even thoughts were slow in crossing his mind as he aimlessly watched the snow fall around and on him. That's when he heard them. Footsteps. Heavy ones. He also heard loud breathing. It registered somewhere in his head that it wasn't human breathing. It was too deep-chested to be human and he was hearing the footfalls of four feet in a steady rhythm, not two. Blue-grey eyes slowly looked down his body and widened slightly when he saw the huge animal approaching him. He had to be imagining things. The animal looked like a horse but those were definitely horns he saw adorning its head. Silver fur covered the animal's body and he could make out what looked like scales on its shoulders but given it was facing him straight on, it was hard to tell.

The animal came to a stop at his feet. Bucky's eyes were open a bit wider as he tried to figure out what he was looking at. This close, he could see that the animal's horns were thick, not at all smooth like normal horns, and configured in which the straight horn was terminating from the vertex of a pair of curled ones. He didn't know whether to be relieved that he wasn't going to die alone or terrified because he couldn't comprehend what he was supposed to be looking at. The animal defied all comprehension to his mind. "So you're still alive. I saw you fall. Never expected that a human could survive such a tumble and at those speeds," it...she...suddenly spoke. Bucky's mind was starting to pick up on things faster and he felt terror lance through him. Animals shouldn't talk but she was talking to him. In English even. There was no way she could actually exist. Was he hallucinating? Was he closer to death than he thought? His heart pounded in his throat and he subconsciously shifted as if he wanted to get up and run away from this...thing. However, his body refused to cooperate and he looked helplessly at the monster, his breathing growing more erratic.

What looked like pity crossed over the animal's face as she took in the pitiful state Bucky was in. She moved so she stood on his right side. That's when he saw the scales and the tail. The scales were gold and hexagonal on her shoulders and thighs. She also sported eight different colored scales that stretched across her back. The tail got him even more than the scales did. It was a scorpion's. Bucky wondered if she was going to put him out of his misery with that thing and he didn't bother to question whether or not she could actually use it. Surprise managed to cut through his fear when she dropped to her knees and brought the rest of her body down, shielding him from the wind somewhat. She then swung her head over rest it on his chest, her curled horns jabbing him slightly. Bucky still couldn't speak. All he could do was look at her and noted that her eyes were a shade of violet. The eye facing him met his gaze and he could swear she smiled gently at him. "Just...stay calm. I'm not going to hurt you," she said. She closed her eyes and Bucky felt a warm sensation ripple down his body. The epicenter of the ripple effect was from where her head rested and he could feel it down to the tips of his remaining limbs. He noticed that her silver horns were also glowing faintly. The remains of his left arm felt as if the skin was being knitted together but a quick look revealed it was just the feeling of it but not in reality.

He felt warm as if he were being shielded from the cold by more than just her body. He also felt a calm settle over him. He finally gained enough strength to shift a little, causing her visible eye to open and look at him. "W-why...?" he croaked, his voice hoarse from the screaming he did on the way down. "Why indeed. Normally, I avoid your kind. Humans made me and humans show me nothing but contempt simply for being. Not that animals are any better. My kind isn't looked at very kindly in most cases and I'm little more than an abomination. But watching you fall, I was compelled to help. It took me a while to find you and even then, I had to wrestle with myself on whether or not to actually do this. I'm afraid...I don't have an answer for you beyond that," she replied. Bucky ran his tongue over his dry, chapped lips. "Are you healing me?" he asked. "As best I can. I'm afraid, given what I am, whatever magic I possess isn't the greatest. If I was fully a unicorn instead of the chimera I am, I'd be able to heal you with no problem. Can't save your arm though. That's beyond saving and even if it wasn't, I doubt magic could stitch it back onto your body," she replied.

Bucky found himself believing every word she said. About how she was a chimera with unicorn ancestry and how she had magic. After all, she was lying right there next to him with her head on his chest and a warm feeling that continued to radiate from where they had contact down his body. He found himself wondering where she came from and if she had a name. She called herself an abomination but Bucky thought differently. There was this strange, otherworldly quality about her that made her one of the most beautiful animals he had ever seen. After the shock of seeing her for the first time, every unnatural thing about her seemed to come together in the most natural way possible. Like horses were _supposed _to have scales, horns, and scorpion tails. Like they were supposed to be silver with violet eyes.

He wanted to touch her but he still couldn't move and even if he could, his right arm was trapped between their bodies. "I can't move," he said. "It's the shock. Missing arm aside, your body is still intact. You did have some internal injuries but I already healed those. Plus hitting the rock that took your arm on the way down slowed your fall a little and the snow itself cushioned your landing. You're lucky." she replied. Bucky's eyes found their way back to the sky and mountains above. "I'm going to die out here. Aren't I," he said, rather than asked. The animal sighed a little. "To be honest, I don't know if I can save you. You took quite the spill and while I did the best I could with what I have, we're still in the middle of some godforsaken mountains with no settlements in sight. I wouldn't know which direction to take you if I tried to move you myself. I'm sorry. You could still die out here despite my efforts," she said. Her voice carried a thick layer of regret that Bucky found rather soothing.

"Thank you anyway, doll. Even if I do end up biting it, at least I won't be alone. You did your best," he said, his voice growing a bit fainter. The animal raised her head a little to look at him a bit more fully. He gave her a small cocksure, but pained, smile before his eyes slid shut. He was losing consciousness but he tried to hang on for as long as he could. He still had a question for her. "Do you have a name?" he asked, his voice even weaker. "It's Phoenix. Like the firebird," he heard her reply. "James Buchanan Barnes. Friends...call me Bucky. It was nice to meet you," the sergeant said. He finally lost the battle to stay awake and he fell into oblivion.

* * *

Phoenix knew she lost him to unconsciousness but she remained in place and kept the healing effects going. She wondered if her mother could've done better. This man...Bucky...was young and strong despite his injuries. If he got really lucky and someone happened along, he could survive it. She had told him the truth that she generally avoided humans. She just didn't know why she felt she had to try and save this one. Something about his plight moved her and she didn't want to just walk away from him when he was in need.

Plus it wasn't as if she had anywhere to be. Her Road led her to this world and promptly abandoned her there. She had been stranded there for about a year or so, waiting for it to reveal itself. She had learned quickly that this was a world at war. The humans had their reasons for fighting and the weapons they wielded were unlike anything she had ever seen at home. The war here reminded her of the stories she learned about the Faction Wars that had taken place centuries ago in her homeworld. Keeping the healing pulses going, Phoenix raised her head to the sky above, her eyes shining with heartbreak. What was taking so long for her Road to come back? While she managed to avoid active battlefields that riddled the land, the war was inescapable. She still came across fields scarred from shells and littered with the bodies of the dead, their still-living comrades searching for survivors. It was a nightmare world she was trapped in and she had no idea how to get out. Why did humans have to solve their problems with this kind of violence?

She looked down at Bucky, his breathing still ragged from the trauma he suffered from the fall. He appeared to be out of immediate danger but if he wasn't found by his people soon, he was going to die here at her side and she could nothing further to save him. All she could do was try to keep his core warm and protect him from the wolves she knew haunted the area. Fortunately, she could sense the weather wasn't going to get worse. The snow was still gently drifting down and it was likely going to break before the sun rose. It was the night she was afraid of. Temperatures were going to drop and that would probably kill Bucky before his severed arm did. Phoenix would be fine. Genbu's North got cold like this at night the farther north she was. She also ran much hotter than humans. Perhaps if she was careful about it, she could manage to keep him warm until the sun rose. After that, it was going to be hard deciding what to do next. Bucky wasn't waking up anytime soon and if he wasn't found soon, his odds of survival dropped to nothing.

Phoenix gently used her head to bring Bucky's body closer to her and resumed the position of her head across his chest. She entertained the idea of humanshifting to give him more cover but decided against it. She had already spooked him in her true form. No need to make things awkward. The sun was already behind the mountains by this point and the temperature was starting to fall. Phoenix's violet eyes slowly closed and she fell into a light sleep. It was only natural. She was in unknown territory with predators around so she had to be quick to protect both herself and Bucky if the need arose.

* * *

The morning broke and Phoenix woke up. Bucky had made it through the night. His breathing was a bit more stable but he wasn't out of danger yet. The chimera's ears caught voices and she raised her head. She turned her head to look behind her, her ears stuck straight up as it appeared the voices were approaching from behind. Not wanting to be caught by anyone else, Phoenix got to her hooves and retreated into a small cave nearby. She was still close enough to intervene if she felt Bucky was in danger but safely tucked away to avoid detection. Her tail twitched as a few people came into view. One of them was a short man with an ill-favored look. Something about this bunch didn't seem right but they were Bucky's only hope. "Sergeant Barnes?" the short man questioned. Seemed Bucky had woken up when she made her hasty retreat.

"Where is she?" she heard the young man asked in a raspy voice. "Who do you mean?" the other man asked. "Phoenix. Where did she go?" Bucky asked again. "I'm afraid we found you alone. Rest easy now. We'll take good care of you," the other man said. Bucky didn't even protest as he was lifted onto a stretcher and carried off. Phoenix stayed in the cave. Part of her wanted to go after them and force them to give him back to her. The short man had an accented voice that wasn't like Bucky's and that made her wonder if she had done the right thing in just letting them walk away with him. Her avoidance of the war at large kept her largely in the dark about who had what motivations and if those motivations were good or bad. Something stayed her hooves as if him getting taken away was meant to happen. For good or ill, she didn't but she couldn't bring herself to ruin Bucky's only chance at real help.

Stepping from the shadows, Phoenix watched as the small group rounded a bend out of sight. Sighing, the chimera went to the place where Bucky had landed. The snow clearly showed something large had been next to him and her hoof prints. She knew she hadn't been seen and yet, no one questioned why it seemed a thousand-pound animal had been nearby. Lowering her nose to the indent his body had made, she could still smell him. It was a scent awash in fear, sorrow, and confusion. Yet, under that, she could smell the faintest trace of hope. Bucky had held on through the night because of the hope he had for rescue. Phoenix had no idea if letting those strange men take him was the right call but she decided to trust in the hope he left behind that things would work out. Then, at long last, she felt her Road open up to her. Phoenix looked over her shoulder where Bucky and those men had disappeared. "Be safe, James Buchanan Barnes. Maybe if Fate is kind, we'll cross paths again," she said aloud. Turning away, she vanished from sight as if she had never been.


	2. Wild Hunt

_"Longing."  
"Rusted."  
"Furnace."  
"Daybreak."  
"Seventeen."  
"Benign."  
"Nine."  
"Homecoming."  
"One."  
"Freight car."  
_  
The phrase was complete and the man with a metal arm was stone-faced, awaiting his orders. _"Good morning, Soldier. We have a mission for you," _said his handler in Russian. _"Ready to comply," _the Winter Soldier replied.

* * *

Phoenix tore through the forest, breath coming in short bursts. She didn't know what was chasing her but the dark intent was palpable. Her Road had taken her back to the world she had left some time ago. It was the same, yet different, as if she had achieved a time jump. It made sense since the Road led her outside the dimensions of time and space when she was hopping from world to world. She had been back for about a month but for the past three days, she couldn't shake the feeling she was being followed. Every time she had checked, there was nothing there. If she was, it was yet another reminder of the things she lacked from her unicorn ancestry. Her mother's kind could pass completely unnoticed if they wished. A lot of humans in the Empire weren't even aware which forests were unicorn-controlled.

Phoenix didn't have that refined ability to pass unseen. Try as she might, being sighted had happened a lot on a number of worlds, including this one. That led to her current status: running from an unseen threat that finally made her fight-or-flight instinct kick in. She reached a clearing and was heading for the other side when a shot rang out. Startled, Phoenix's hooves hit a hidden hole and she was sent crashing to the ground. Tearing up grass and soil with her horns as she slid to a stop, the chimera just lay still. She breathed hard as she mentally checked for injuries like a broken leg but her reinforced bones and muscle had saved her again.

Slowly getting to her belly, she chanced a look at her tail. _"Great. Bastard shot it off,"_ she thought. Fortunately for her, her tail was shot off between the second and third segments, meaning regeneration wouldn't take too long. If it had been shot off any lower, then it would take longer. Plowing headfirst into the ground hurt her more than her tail getting shot off did. Her tail didn't have nerve endings past the root. Getting to her hooves and shaking her body free of dirt and grasses, Phoenix turned to face the direction she had come from. The sound of a motor roared through the forest, drawing closer. She had to quickly decide what she had to do. Her tail would take ten minutes to regenerate tops but until then, she was somewhat defenseless. She had her horns but her tail was her primary weapon. Standing her ground seemed like a good idea but considering she was in a world where guns were a thing, it wasn't particularly a safe idea. Still, the one who shot her had shot to disarm, not kill. Which usually meant someone was interested in her and her capabilities. Her tail, for instance, held potent venom from an unknown scorpion species that someone would find very useful.

If they were after her for her venom, they were in for a disappointment. Phoenix never allowed her own husband to analyze it to see what sort of scorpion had been used in the gene splicing and sequencing that led to her creation. She wasn't about to let some humans get their hands on it and weaponize it for their own use. The chimera looked around and found the severed remains of her tail close by. She quickly trotted over and raised a hoof. Just as she was about to bring it down on the telson, a motorcycle tore through the underbrush, carrying a man with a metal arm. He wore a mask and goggles, effectively hiding his identity. A rifle was strapped to his body. Phoenix froze for a split second but brought her hoof down hard just as her pursuer skidded to a halt. The telson was crushed like a grape, her venom useless now. All the while, she had never taken her eyes off the human who curled his metal fingers into a fist.

Clearly, he was enraged by what she had done. It was rolling off him in waves. The chimera took this time to study him. Aside from his face being hidden, his brown hair was down to his chin. He wore a leather top with dark fatigues. His metal arm looked like it was something Byakko High King had forged but the craftsmanship seemed...almost beyond even his skill level. Byakko was the best at what he did so anyone being able to outdo him in anything was someone impressive. The thing that gave the chimera pause was his scent. He smelled exactly like someone she had met long ago in this world's time. Every living thing had its own unique scent. Even two members of the same species had variations in their scents. They were like fingerprints, unique to a singular entity. She filed her observations away and had to figure out how to forestall further aggression until her tail regenerated. Every minute without it seemed to stretch to eternity.

"You shot me," she said, plainly. That had the intended effect of startling the man. He didn't outwardly show it but it was plain in the way he subtly tightened his fist. "The monster speaks," he responded, his mask muffling his words a little. "Monster is a new one for me. I've been called a demon, an abomination, even beautiful. But if 'monster' means the same as 'chimera' to you, then it will be yet another title given to me," she said. The man reached up and pulled his goggles off, freeing some very familiar blue-grey eyes. "You know why I was tracking you," he said, more than asked. "Naturally. You aren't the first human who saw potential in the tail you shot off. I could be wrong but I think your intention was just to relieve me of my first line of defense and be on your merry way. As an entity, I don't mean much to you. Sorry, not sorry that I destroyed the thing you were stalking me for," came the response.

* * *

The Winter Soldier didn't show it but something about the monster was ringing a very distant bell as if he had seen her before. Her voice sounded familiar, too. He almost balked as fragments of memories came to him, as they were wont to do whenever he was pulled from cryo. Shaking his head, the Soldier forced himself to focus on the mission which had been to track the animal down, relieve her of her telson by any means necessary, and kill the animal if needed. Something about their standoff made something fester inside. His other targets begged for mercy if he got up close and personal for a mission. This beast didn't seem the slightest bit afraid of him. Feeling uncharacteristically angry, the Soldier tore his mask off and let it fall to the grass.

The animal's nonchalance turned to shock but he only noticed it as an afterthought. He ran at the animal, his superhuman speed giving him the element of surprise. He reached out with his metal hand and grasped one of her curled horns. He vaulted over her back, easily twisting her head enough that she fell to the ground. It was clear her surprise had made that feat easier to achieve. Horses followed their heads but when they were being attacked, they did whatever it took to stay on their hooves and not get dragged down. The animal started to resist but he pinned her neck down with his knee and pulled a handgun on her, pressing the barrel to her temple. She stopped resisting, her visible violet eye staring up at him as if she had seen a ghost.

* * *

Phoenix was less concerned about the gun to her head and more than a little shocked at who she was looking at. That and he was touching her. "It can't be...That was over 70 years ago by this world's reckoning. It's impossible," she gasped, trying to talk past the knee on her neck. The man pushed the barrel into her head a little, a nerve struck. "I don't know you," he said. "But I sure as hell know you," she snapped, trying to destabilize him so she could get back to a vertical base. The man wasn't having it though. "I don't know you," he said again. Phoenix's hooves dug into the earth slightly, feeling a crick in her neck starting to form because the curled horns prevented her head from resting completely on the ground.

"You don't remember me, do you? Long ago, you were broken on the earth. You had fallen from a train and came to rest on the snow. You lost your left arm in that fall. I came to you, healed whatever I could, and kept you warm through the night. The next morning, some men found you and took you away. What the hell did they do to you? How are you, a mere human, still alive and young after all this time?" she protested. The man paused as if giving weight to her words. Phoenix knew beyond the shadow of a doubt this man was James Buchanan Barnes. This was Bucky. It was the only explanation as to why their scents were identical. Something had happened to him 70 years ago when she allowed those men to take him away. Had she unwittingly delivered him to evil men when she left his side to avoid detection?

Questions were starting to fill her head but Phoenix had to focus. Whatever had been done to him, it was obvious he was just a weapon someone from the shadows was pointing at her. He was obviously acting on the orders of someone else. Nothing about this entire encounter made it seem he was acting alone or even of his own accord. He made it plain that he didn't know her anymore. His mission was to take possession of the tail she had destroyed. There was no conceivable way his handlers knew she had regenerative capabilities so the question became what was he waiting for? Search and destroy seemed a likely objective for him if he failed to secure her telson. She had crushed it in full view of him, proverbially flipping the bird at him and his handlers that she wasn't about to let her venom fall into their hands.

Regardless, Bucky seemed to be struggling with her words of familiarity with him. That hesitation was going to cost him because Phoenix could feel her new tail getting ready to rip out of the stump. She could get him off then if he didn't shoot her in the head first. She didn't know how fast her husband's spell could sense murderous intent and activate in the seconds it took for a bullet to fire. This was why she generally avoided worlds where guns existed. She calmed herself and let her eyes close, even as the barrel to her head remained in place.

* * *

The Soldier was still trying to puzzle out why her words were striking nerves left, right, and center. He was then distracted by something that sounded an awful lot like tearing flesh. Twisting his head around, he had no time to react when a newly formed tail shot out from the stump. However, instead of hitting him with it, the creature somehow managed to hook his waist with her stinger and he was sent careening away. Considering her tail was many times bigger and stronger than a scorpion's, it was rather easy. The animal was on her hooves in the seconds his weight left her. She stood with her tail full-masted and daring him to try something when he recovered. "How did...," he spat, taking aim with his gun.

"Don't try it. I could hit you with a dry sting faster than you can pull that trigger. It won't kill you but you'll hurt for a long time from the bruise I leave behind. I don't want to hurt you but I will if you give me a reason to. If the appearance of a new tail surprised you, then regeneration was something your handlers didn't count on," she replied. They just stared each other down as dark clouds started to roll in. He still hadn't completed one of his objectives. The animal was standing there with a new tail at full mast and giving him no quarter to try again. His handgun wasn't strong enough to cut through the chitin and she wasn't bluffing about her striking speed. Even if he wanted to reach for his sniper rifle, he'd be flat on his back before he knew what hit him.

* * *

Phoenix could feel the weather turning. A storm was coming and she still held her ground against Bucky. She didn't bother calling him by name. He had forgotten her and it was likely his own identity was another casualty of whatever happened to him since she saw him last. Were she more optimistic, she would've given weight to the idea that he thought he dreamed her up when they first met. As it were, the lack of recognition was the clincher that he was either amnesiac or someone did something to his brain. Even if he believed he dreamed her up, coming across her again would've triggered recognition regardless. Deja vu, at the very least. But looking at his eyes, there was nothing at all. There was also the matter of him looking the way he did seventy years prior. It just was impossible for humans to retain their youth this long. Phoenix wanted answers but she wasn't going to get them from Bucky.

She knew this. What she didn't know was how she was going to get out of this mess. She couldn't turn her back on him. That was the opening he was waiting for so he could get a clean shot. If she allowed that, he would certainly shoot to kill her this time. His handlers were clearly after her telson and the venom it contained. Now that he had seen her spontaneously regenerate a new one, he would be apt to try again. Thunder rolled across the sky and the chimera took a deep breath. "You're not going to let me walk away, are you?" she asked. "You're my mission. If I have to kill you to complete it, I will," he said, his voice still cold.

Phoenix just deflated. She wasn't equipped to handle a threat like this. She couldn't even help him. Her anger grew at his handlers. Someone didn't just get a whole new personality overnight. Whatever his handlers did to him, she longed to make them pay. The fact she was getting this protective over a human still baffled her but in the end, it didn't matter. She had failed to protect Bucky Barnes all those years ago by not heeding what her gut had said when those men found him in the ravine. It was in the nature of unicorns to protect. Phoenix wasn't even a unicorn. She just had the body of one. She had spent her entire life avoiding humans and other animals because of what she was. A science experiment.

Bucky was like her now, an abomination of a different sort. Where she had been spliced together on the genetic level and left to develop from the embryonic stage on up, he had been torn apart and remade into something else. She had no idea what he had been like prior to when she found him at the bottom of that ravine but there was no way he had been the cold-hearted killer standing in front of her now. Her tail slowly started to lower. He was clearly confused by the time it reached half-mast and came to rest position. "I'm sorry I let you down, James. I should've done more to protect you back then," she said.

* * *

The Soldier felt anger at the pity he heard in the animal's voice. And the name she called him...James? Was that his name? For as long as he could remember, he never had a name. Winter Soldier was a title, something his handlers called him in order to strike fear into the hearts of the paranoid because his existence was difficult to prove. Having his mind wiped before every mission didn't help matters. His anger finally broke the dam of self-control that had been beaten into him. That monster dared to imply she knew him? Protect him from what? She was just a beast! What did she know about anything?!

He raised his gun with a yell and pulled the trigger. To his surprise, a sudden burst of blue flames shot out from around the animal's body and the bullet ricocheted off it as if it were a shield. The Soldier only had a few seconds to watch as the flames took the form of a serpentine dragon, which roared and came at him at blinding speeds. The Soldier was sent flying off his feet with even more force than the creature's tail alone had done. He landed hard on his back and slid about a foot or two before coming to stop. Groaning and in shock from the blow, the Soldier watched as the chimera closed the distance slowly. The spectral flame dragon was audibly hissing but it didn't lash out again. She herself was right in the middle of the specter as if she were the source.

* * *

Phoenix stopped when she stood over Bucky. He was looking at her with a mix of rage, confusion, and surprisingly, fear. Even as he was, he still knew and understood when he was overpowered. She was very lucky that her husband's spell activated in time to keep her safe. It wasn't a spell she had control over. It just activated when she was in a situation she couldn't get herself out of. Bucky had shot to kill and the spell sprang to life to preserve her. She saw his hand move to bring the gun up to fire again and she snapped her tail. It struck the weapon and sent it from his hand. He then made a grab with his left hand but Phoenix was faster. She brought her hoof down as hard as she could against the metal, feeling it cave a little under her weight. His yell of pain was all the proof she needed to know that his metal arm was somehow connected to his nervous system. So he felt everything done to it.

Now that she had the upper hand, the spell surrounding her body dissipated. The rain chose that moment to start falling. It was plain Bucky had nothing left at this point. Her husband's magic had done a number on him and then she had crushed his metal forearm. The damage wasn't terrible. A couple of the metal segments would have to be replaced and whatever wiring was under it would probably have to be recalibrated but he would live. Phoenix lied down next to him and rested her head on his chest, just as she did years ago. A part of her held onto the vain hope that the young soldier she had appeared to in the ravine was still somewhere in the monster he had become. He stared at her. His confusion was such that you could cut it with a knife. "I don't know what they did to you but if I ever find out who your handlers are, I will kill them. I know what it's like to be an experiment. No more fighting," she said, pinning him with her gaze.

He subconsciously licked his lips but didn't speak. Whatever was going through his head was clearly warring with some long-forgotten memories. Phoenix couldn't stick around for too long, lest something triggered him and he tried to take her on again. Getting to her hooves, the chimera let the spectral flames of her husband's spell envelope her and her Road opened. She was gone by the time Bucky scrambled to his feet.

* * *

A resounding slap echoed in the mind wipe chamber. The Soldier didn't react to it beyond bringing his head back to face ahead. He just sat in the chair, shirtless, as his handler spoke in furious Russian to a colleague. _"Mission report," _he then snapped at the Soldier. _"The target crushed the telson I had shot off before I could reach it. I tried a shoot-to-kill approach next but the abomination somehow managed to conjure...magic that prevented me from taking her out," _he responded in a deadpan. _"Magic?" _his handler asked, incredulous but intrigued all the same. _"Yes. Like blue flames taking the shape of a dragon. My bullet ricocheted off as if the flames formed a barrier around her," _the Soldier said.

_"If not for HYDRA's work with the Tesseract, I would've found this laughable," _his handler spoke to his colleague. _"There's something else. This creature can regenerate her tail. As ordered, I shot to disarm her but after ten minutes, it grew back instantaneously. Destroying the telson was deliberate on her part. She had gone out of her way to make sure I didn't secure it. She's not only intelligent but sapient as well. She's not normal, her alien appearance notwithstanding,"_ the Soldier spoke up._"Most interesting, Soldier. I take it she's also the reason your left forearm is damaged?"_ the handler asked._"Yes," _was all he said. _"Perhaps your mission wasn't a complete failure. You managed to gather some useful intel. Once your wrist components are repaired, we'll likely send you back out after her. The mission will be Capture Alive," _the other man said. The Soldier just took a breath but didn't reply. Going after that animal a second time would require back-up, especially since it was to capture her alive. Even then, he didn't know if she was even still around. She had vanished into thin air in front of him.

He wisely chose to leave out the conversation he had with her. Normally, his targets didn't have the chance to talk to him. He knew it was so they couldn't get into his head. Yet, she had. He had given her an inch in spite of his training and she had taken a mile. Why did she claim to know him? He had never seen her before. An animal that looked like that wouldn't be forgotten so easily, even with the mind wipes. He heard his handler instruct his colleagues to get him prepped for cryo. The engineer responsible for the metal arm's upkeep had to be called in from Russia so the Soldier was to be put on ice until his wrist was repaired. He dutifully went to the cryo chamber and closed his eyes, ready to be put under. Just before unconsciousness took him, a stray thought dashed to the animal he had been sent to relieve the tail from. She was...beautiful.


	3. Connection Forged

A metal-armed man was wandering a forest. It had been several months since things went down in Washinton D.C. SHIELD had fallen, taking HYDRA with it. It was all thanks to the man on the bridge. His mission. His...friend. Since then, the former Winter Soldier had taken to walking the earth. After things had gone down, he had been left adrift. The number of people giving him orders was down to zero. He had snuck into the Smithsonian, trying to figure out the confusing mess Captain America had left him with. He had gone there because they had a Captain America exhibit and something told him that he would also be there in it. He had, against his better judgment, lingered there for as long as he could so he could absorb all the information. He learned a lot but was still trying to reconcile it all. His name was James Buchanan Barnes. He was born on March 10, 1917. That almost made him smile. It meant he was 96 years old...somehow. Friends called him Bucky. And Captain America was indeed a friend from childhood. His real name was Steve Rogers.

For the time being, he wasn't sure if he believed any of it. The name James Buchanan Barnes didn't feel right to him for some reason. Like it belonged to some other man who just happened to look like him. So he opted to call himself Bucky. It was what Steve had called him. He was currently in Europe. Romania, in fact. He had a destination in mind but was taking the scenic route as it were. Less chance of someone recognizing him. Bucharest was his chance to disappear into a faceless crowd. He came to a river and decided to take a break. He sat down against a tree and sighed. Even though he knew he was the only human being around for miles, he was still on the look-out for threats. He wasn't sure he knew how to relax. Closing his blue-grey eyes, Bucky let the peaceful forest carry his mind away.

The peace was broken when he heard something coming through the underbrush on the other side of the river. Opening his eyes, Bucky scanned the trees to see what it was. His heart then caught in his throat as...something...stepped out to lower its head to the water. Something in his mind came clawing to the surface as he beheld the animal. Silver fur and multi-colored scales covered the animal's body, its head adorned with horns. Two curled down like the horns of a ram while the third terminated from the vertex. Topping off the ensemble was a scorpion tail. Bucky knew this animal somehow. Faded memories bubbled to the surface. Memories HYDRA couldn't fully erase. Hazy images of snowy mountains floated to the surface. Images of the animal came with them. It...she...had been real and she was standing right there. As if sensing she was being watched, the animal raised her head quickly and locked eyes with him.

* * *

Phoenix had been dropped a third time in this world. It hadn't been too long since her last visit. Only a few months. She was starting to question why her Road kept circling back here. Her first visit was in 1944 and her second was earlier in the current year. She decided to go among the humans when she was dropped back here this time and got caught up with what was going on. She had humanshifted and hid her hair to avoid arousing suspicion. Thanks to the experiments that made her, Phoenix's ability to humanshift was corrupted. When humanshifters in her world took a human form, their hair always took the color of their natural state. Had Phoenix been a full unicorn, her hair would've been silver and easier to pass off. As it were, her hair took on the colors over the plate scales on her back arranged in vertical stripes. That was harder to pass off. Even though she had seen crazier hairstyles in this world, Phoenix's entire deal was to pass through as unnoticed as possible.

Perusing the Internet (which she took a crash course in since this world had technology hers didn't), Phoenix came across the huge info dump about HYDRA. Most of it was encrypted but given her husband was a High King and encryption was very much a part of the various kingdoms' correspondence, she was able to decipher some of it. She learned about the Winter Soldier program and that answered a lot of questions she had about Bucky, a man she had met long ago and reunited with under strenuous circumstances a few months prior. She also came across some encrypted documents that answered the big question of why HYDRA had sent Bucky after her in the first place. As she had started to suspect, she had never evaded HYDRA's notice in the mid-'40s. They had been tracking her even back then. When she "fell off the map" after 1944, the scant file they had built on cryptids was sealed. When she came back the second time, via a time jump the Road orchestrated, her arrival had been noticed without her knowledge and she apparently went viral on the Internet. Many people believed her to be a hoax. Not HYDRA, apparently.

The file she found included the mission she had found herself the target of. Just as she thought, the Winter Soldier had been sent with orders to retrieve her telson. The plan was to milk her severed stinger for venom and it was decided they didn't need all of her, just her tail. The reason they sent Bucky in was because they had correctly assumed he was least likely to die trying to retrieve the telson. HYDRA didn't know she and Bucky had made contact back in 1944 so it was merely a "happy" accident that saw her getting gunned down by a man she had met decades ago in this world's time. Apparently, the men who had taken him back then were so focused on landing their ace that the physical evidence of her being there had gone unnoticed. Be that as it may, she also learned that Bucky had talked about her during the brutal conditioning they had put him through to mold him into the world's deadliest assassin. His case file had made a small note of it, theorizing she was a figment of his imagination as he tried to resist losing himself. She was, however, described in meticulous detail. It was no wonder that when she popped up in the modern age, HYDRA took notice and decided to use her to their advantage.

Now that HYDRA was gone, Phoenix took refuge in the idea that most people didn't believe she existed despite her virality on the Internet. Anyone who came looking for her would be hard-pressed to find any evidence. Phoenix couldn't avoid detection as well as her mother's kind but she knew how to disappear. Which led her to her current location. She was somewhere in a country called Romania. Bucky was never far from her thoughts even now. Since HYDRA had been torn down, she wondered what happened to him.

Coming to a river, still mired in her thoughts, Phoenix brought her head down to drink. After a moment, she felt eyes on her and her head shot up to take in her surroundings. It didn't take long before she found the one watching her. She froze when she saw it was Bucky himself. _"Speak of the devil and he shall appear," _she thought. He seemed like a different man than the one who had shot her tail off and who she left with a damaged arm. He was looking at her in unabashed wonder. Not sure if she was in danger or not, Phoenix decided to cut her losses and put as much ground between them as possible. She had no idea if he was hunting her. But just as she made a move to turn and run, his voice made her pause.

"Don't go,"

* * *

The words had slipped out before Bucky could stop them. It was plain the animal recognized him in turn and the way she regarded him made him wonder if that was fear he saw. She had stopped midturn and looked at him again. "Who am I talking to?" she asked. So she could speak. Her question was an obvious lure. She was trying to decipher if it was him or the Winter Soldier speaking to her. "We met...a long time ago. I was in a ditch or something. My arm was lying nearby...and there you were. Like some angel decided to take on the form of a...monster? No. No, not a monster. Just...something not entirely real but is all the same," he replied, stumbling over his words a little.

A loud exhalation of air made him look up at the animal. She had turned back to face him head-on. "Are you Bucky? Or are you just trying to lull me into a false sense of security?" she asked. His eyes dropped a bit and his entire expression just screamed: "I don't know who I really am". His expression turned to wariness as it appeared the animal decided to join him on the opposite bank. He sat really still as she lowered her horned head to his face. He almost cracked a small smile when she nudged his face with her velvety nose but remained completely lax. She was using his scent to gauge his threat level. The nudge was clearly accidental. Everything about her made it seem she was hesitant about contact.

When she got out of his face and backed up a couple of steps, Bucky lifted his eyes to hers. It was rather strange but she seemed to be smiling very humanlike. "The last time we met, you shot my tail off. You didn't know me," she said. The man just looked down again. He had vague memories of that mission. Even though HYDRA had wiped him after his first meeting with Steve, it wasn't a deep wipe so his memories of that mission and the animal in front of him weren't completely stripped away. He didn't have to see her tilting her head at him. He could feel it. "I...know an apology isn't enough," he said. She brought her eyes down to his level again. "As if I could hold it against you, knowing what I know now," she said.

* * *

Phoenix moved her head out of reach when Bucky reached out. "Don't...," she said, her voice catching oddly. At his confused expression, she swallowed. "You already know deep down that I'm not natural by any real stretch. Did you ever ask yourself why?" she asked. He just tilted his head questioningly, which told her the thought never crossed his mind and he had just accepted her existence without question. But at the same time, he was starting to put two and two together. "You don't like being touched," he said. "I'll spare you all the details but I was created by an alchemist and experimented on when I was born. Many of those experiments ended in pain. I don't...like it when humans touch me. All you do is hurt," she explained.

Bucky's expression said it all. He wanted to assure her he would never hurt her but they both knew it would be a bald-faced lie. Even though his programming had been active at the time, the truth remained he had hurt her. Not only did he disarm her of her primary weapon but he had also wrangled her to the ground and held a gun to her head. What he couldn't seem to answer for himself was why she hadn't done more to throw him off back then. She was a huge, thousand-pound animal with the strength to match. Had the shock of seeing him for the first time in decades throw her off that much? Had the gun pointed at her skull kept her from trying any rash moves? "You must think I'm a monster," he finally said. Phoenix shook her head in disagreement. "No. I was created into a world where my kind isn't perceived kindly. I'm just one of the lucky few who managed to survive without losing myself to despair. You didn't have any more of a choice than I did," she said.

"You're beautiful," came the surprising statement. Phoenix's eyes shot over to meet Bucky's. He still had a slight deadpan look on his face but it was only on the surface. Under it was a very tired, very old man. She had been called beautiful on many occasions. Her husband was often the one who said it. It was easy to believe when it was him saying it. Seiryu was very old and being a dragon meant he was extremely honest. When it came from others, it was harder to believe they were being genuine. She always decided to believe them when they said it, too. She hesitated when it came to Bucky. She wasn't sure why. This was the first time they met since 1944. The man who had held a gun to her head a few months ago...wasn't him.

* * *

Just like his plea for her to stay had slipped, so had the compliment. Bucky just expertly hid his own surprise and thinking about it led the conclusion that he spoke the truth. After everything he had lived through and done, this animal was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. She exuded an aura that made him feel unworthy to even be talking to her. He had a vague memory of when they met in 1944. She had implied unicorn ancestry and from what he could remember of fairy tales, unicorns generally had a distrust of men and preferred the company of pure girls. Those tales also mentioned the magical aura they put off. However, she had told a different story. She didn't like humans touching her because she had been subjected to pain every time they did.

The former Winter Soldier looked at her again. "What's your name?" he asked. "Phoenix," she replied. He slowly raised his flesh hand up to her. "I know you don't like being touched and I won't pressure you but...," he trailed off. He remembered wanting to touch her decades ago but couldn't because of his condition at the time. He wanted to see for himself that he was still capable of a gentle touch and to know without a doubt that she was a real creature. Back when HYDRA was beating him senseless, he hung onto the memories he had of them in the ravine and questioning if she had been real. Sure, she was standing there in front of him right now but he couldn't trust anything. He needed to physically touch her. He wanted to believe contact with her would heal his soul.

* * *

Phoenix tilted her head. Bucky just looked so thoroughly defeated and tired. Physically, he was still in his prime thanks to the countless years he spent frozen but his eyes were just like those of the Masters, the five beasts who ruled her world. Ancient and forever. Her husband was one of them. It was hard to wrap her mind around the fact that Bucky was in his late 90s chronologically because he didn't look it. By unicorn standards, he was still very young but humans had an average seventy to eighty-year lifespan and their youth was ridiculously fleeting. Thanks to everything that had been done to him, Bucky had been robbed in ways she couldn't fathom and he was sitting there looking lost. She contemplated his request.

He was looking for healing, she realized. She had been in this world long enough to know her mother's kind were myths. Unicorns never had existed here except in fairy tales. Some of them lined up with the truth, particularly how unicorns had healing powers. She wondered if Bucky assumed that touching her would help him somehow. She wasn't a unicorn but she was the closest thing he had to one. She had limited magic, including the healing arts. But even if she were fully unicorn, it was impossible to meet his request. "I can't heal you, Bucky. Not in the way you're looking for." she finally said. He visibly deflated and dropped his hand. She shifted on her hooves. She was comfortable with those she knew and trusted well touching her. Bucky hadn't earned that level of trust at all and through no fault of his own. She had made physical contact with him in their previous encounters of her own accord. It didn't count. Perhaps...she could make an exception. He had gone through so much torture, pain, and hardship that if she could do anything to ease his soul, she owed to him to help.

She also felt she had to make up for essentially abandoning him to his fate seventy years ago. If she had just intervened before those HYDRA rats took him away, he wouldn't have gone through the hell he had. Her heart broke. She wasn't really responsible for anything that had happened but she had made a choice that day in the mountains and robbed a young man of a normal life. She stamped a hoof to get his attention. "That metal arm of yours...can you promise it won't act of its own accord?" she asked.

* * *

Bucky looked up at her, puzzled by the strange question. "This arm is bionic, not cybernetic. There's nothing for anyone to hack, even remotely. I'm not sure how much my word is worth to you but I swear that any actions it takes are done at my will." he replied. Where did she get the idea that his arm was computerized? Hackable, even? Regardless, the answer seemed to satisfy the chimera but she was still wary. She closed the distance and to his surprise, bent her head down to nudge his flesh hand. Bucky wasn't sure what to do but after a moment, Phoenix had managed to work her nose into his hand and kept it there. "I can't heal you and this is difficult for me to do but I suppose...I can allow this," she said by way of explanation.

Bucky slowly got to his feet, his hand still on her velvety nose. He remembered petting horses before. It was almost shocking just how normal she felt. He was expecting her to be unimaginably soft to the touch. To her credit, Phoenix allowed the cold metal of his bionic hand to make contact with her as well. He couldn't feel textures with that hand. Still, it had such fine-tuned motor control that he could do anything with it a normal hand could and he kept it hidden so no one was the wiser. He wordlessly looked to her for permission. He wanted to feel her scales. She just sighed, closing her eyes. Bucky ran his flesh hand across her fur before going for the scales. Her fur didn't feel any different from that of a horse's. He didn't know why but he felt a touch disappointed. Guess he had gotten his expectations up too high. His hand came to rest on one of the plate scales on her back. It was smooth and the color of blood. He ignored the flashbacks the color elicited. He marveled at how her scales blended seamlessly into each other and her fur.

The gold, hexagonal ones on her shoulders were also smooth. Bucky made a point to avoid touching her tail. It was in rest position but he had a vague memory of it in action. Normal humans couldn't see a scorpion tail strike but he could. His enhanced senses had allowed him to see hers snapping and sending his gun flying. He was rightfully wary of it. Supersized and attached to an animal it had no business being attached to, it was still the part of an arachnid smart people avoided. He instead turned his attention to her horn complex. She didn't say anything as his fingers felt them. They were thick and almost blocky in appearance. A far cry from the horns of a sheep and the traditional depictions of unicorns. They were sheathed in silver and the flat planes were as smooth as her scales. Her mane, he noticed, was cropped short like a zebra's. He then settled for absently running his hand along her neck.

* * *

Against her better judgment, Phoenix allowed herself to relax. It was usually around this time that she'd shy away from someone's hands but the way Bucky ran his flesh hand against her neck reminded her of her husband. He was gentle but at the same time, he didn't think her fragile. Some of her friends in other worlds sometimes touched her delicately as if she were made of glass. They knew her backstory and it somehow lodged in their minds that she was easily broken. Bucky was different. He didn't touch her as if she would break. He was just petting her as he would a horse. There was something therapeutic about it as well. She didn't even protest when he wordlessly managed to get her to lie down so he could sit again.

Her violet eyes slowly closed and continued to let him stroke her neck and face. Her mind started drifting away, thinking of home. She wondered what her husband was doing at this moment. His job as High King of the East and World Master kept him busy most days but she knew he worried about her. He would be fine without her regardless. She was prone to wander the plains outside the Eastern Range anyway, sometimes being away for days at a time. Then there was the fact he had been alone to an extent for his entire existence. She vaguely felt her head moving until it rested against Bucky's chest, vaguely noting he paused for a moment in confusion. She didn't move but she made sure she didn't press too hard. Horns weren't the most comfortable of physical traits, being hard bone. Her horns were even harder, sheathed in metal-like alicorn, the material covering the horns of her mother's kind.

"You remind me of him," she said, as her head came to rest on his lap.

* * *

Phoenix leaning her head to his chest and later to his lap made Bucky feel funny. He had expected her to reach the end of her tolerance for being touched but she seemed to retreat into his strokes as if she needed them. When she spoke, he jolted a little. "Remind you of who?" he asked. "My husband." came the response. If she were looking at him, she would've seen the look of confusion on his face. However, it seemed she sense the shift in his demeanor and sighed. "Where I come from, marriage isn't just the province of humans. So yes, I have a husband. Of course, to your ears, that sounds pretty fantastical so perhaps 'mate' or 'pair-bond' is a better choice," she explained. She was starting to feel drowsy. The rhythmic motions of a hand on her neck were making her sleepy.

"Would he...be okay with this? Me touching you?" came the hesitant question. "He's very old. Older than you are, actually. And he's far beyond possessiveness. Dragons either feel very strongly or not at all but possessiveness is something they never feel. He wouldn't mind. He's lived his entire life without me and he'll live on long after I'm gone. You remind me of him because of your eyes. They reveal your age and your exhaustion, just like his. I guess this is why my tolerance hasn't run out," she explained. Bucky wasn't sure which seemed more like complete hogwash, the fact she was (by human standards) married or the fact her mate was a dragon. Where in the world had she come from? "How old are we talking about?" he asked instead. "Six thousand years old. He's lived since our world came into being and he'll live to see the end of it. The details are dense and I don't want to overwhelm you with information that's best left unsaid," she replied.

Bucky had no choice but to accept she was telling the truth. She was a talking animal but still an animal. Animals had no reason to lie or deceive. Even if they could, Phoenix didn't seem the type. She didn't seem to pick up on it but Bucky could read her easily. Almost too easily. She had come through a lot herself and it hit him that the reason he was so invested in her was because they were kindred spirits. Her suffering was something he could only guess at. He only had her admission of being experimented on. Silence fell between them. Bucky was no longer aware his hand was still stroking the soft fur of the creature. From that point, time slipped by.

* * *

Bucky woke up first. He wasn't even aware of when he fell asleep. A look at the sky revealed that the sun hadn't broken the horizon just yet. He was on his side and his arm was draped across Phoenix's neck. She was sleeping on her own side and he noted that she had dug a rut into the soil so she could sleep easier. For some reason, he remembered reading stories from the first World War when horse calvaries were still a thing. Many soldiers slept that way with their horses. Feeling a little awkward, Bucky slowly took his arm off and sat up. When was the last time he had slept that soundly? He didn't even have any nightmares. A quick look at Phoenix's horns gave him an idea. They were glowing slightly. He figured she had somehow used magic to calm his mind and prevent the usual night terrors.

Running a hand over his face, Bucky stretched a bit before standing up. He gently nudged Phoenix with a shoe. "Hey, wake up," he said. The animal snorted as she woke up before rolling onto her belly. She seemed a bit dazed and out of sorts. "You okay?" he asked, a spark of concern. "I'm fine. Sometimes, I tend to forget where I am when I'm not home. It's fine," she said. Getting to her hooves, she shook her body out and flexed her tail. She looked around the forest before looking at her companion. "Where were you heading?" she asked. "Bucharest," he replied. He reached out and was mildly surprised when she didn't shy away. "Will you come with me?" he asked. Phoenix looked over at him, weighing his words. "As far as the forest goes. I won't go beyond the edge. As much as it aggravates me, I haven't gone as unnoticed as I would've liked. I don't want to draw any more attention to myself than I already have," she replied. Bucky just nodded in acquiescence. He felt disappointed she couldn't stay with him. Even though they had been together for less than a day, he found he liked the companionship she brought.

It reminded him of something he had read in passing when he was making his way across Europe. Animals had ways of making people feel better. Phoenix was less of an animal and more of an equal now. She was easy to talk to and she didn't judge him. He wondered if it was because animals themselves didn't judge humans too harshly. They were privy to certain truths and weren't as easily manipulated into preconceived notions. He said nothing of his thoughts and just started walking, jumping across the river with ease. Phoenix joined him on the other side, her head swinging as she walked. She seemed lost in thought so he was content to leave her to it. The silence was companionable and he needed to focus on his surroundings anyway.

When they reached the edge of the forest, the two paused. "This is where we part ways. For now. My Road's dumped me here three times now and I think I've learned why," Phoenix said. The former Winter Soldier looked at her. She met his gaze and gave that strangely human smile. "You and I, Bucky, have now forged a connection," she said. The corners of the man's lips twitched slightly into a ghost of a smile. He looked down at his metal hand. "Does this mean...you forgive me?" he asked. "Far as I'm concerned, there's nothing to forgive. Unlike humans, I'm not so quick to judge. It's on you to decide if I forgive you or not," she replied. They looked at the city in the distance. Bucky started for it but he paused, turning back. "Will I see you again?" he asked. Phoenix just buzzed her lips like a horse. "That depends on if my Road circles around again. It's already led me here three times. I won't be surprised if it does so again," she responded.

Seemingly satisfied with that answer, Bucky started off. Phoenix watched him go. After he had put some distance between them, she suddenly seized and blood started gushing from her mouth. She hacked a bit and smiled bitterly. "He didn't even wonder why he slept so well. He doesn't need to know that I took on his burdens, if only for a night. I regret nothing." she said to herself. She hacked again as more blood came from her mouth, followed by her nose. It just poured out like a waterfall. She wasn't in any real danger. Physically, she was perfectly fine. The blood didn't have any source internally. She was just glad this waited until Bucky had left her side. If he had witnessed her suddenly vomiting blood, he wouldn't have left her and she'd have to come clean about what she had done to grant him a little comfort. Phoenix just had to ride it out a bit. "We are, both of us...broken," were her last thoughts as she faded from view.


	4. Reunion

Awareness slowly came to Bucky Barnes. His head was pounding a little but as he came back to awareness, it started to die down. The memories came back. He remembered going to Siberia with Steve to stop Helmut Zemo from activating the other Winter Soldiers. He remembered finding them dead in their sleep. Then Iron Man showed up. Tony Stark. The son of Howard Stark. Zemo revealed the truth and all Bucky could feel was immeasurable sorrow and fear. Then the fighting started. Steve tried to buy Bucky time to escape but Stark had kept him from that. So the two old friends tag-teamed him and beat him down. The fight cost Bucky his bionic arm but Steve managed to end it by breaking Stark's arc reactor for his suit. Leaving his shield behind, Steve managed to get Bucky out of the compound where they met another of Bucky's pursuers. T'Challa, the Black Panther of Wakanda, had an unconscious Zemo in his grasp. The new King apologized for attacking Bucky multiple times under the mistaken impression he had killed his father, King T'Chaka.

T'Challa took Steve and Bucky with him back to Wakanda and it was there Bucky was put on ice once more. It was his choice. He didn't feel safe around anyone as long as HYDRA's programming was still in his head. He didn't trust himself. T'Challa promised him they would find a way to undo everything and that he now had a home in Wakanda for as long as he wished.

Opening his blue-grey eyes, Bucky looked at the ceiling before they landed on his visitor. T'Challa smiled at seeing the former Winter Soldier awake. "Welcome back, Sergeant Barnes. How do you feel?" he asked, motioning for a nurse to come and take his vitals. Bucky sat up and looked at where his left arm used to be. His torso had been wrapped up and he noted with dull interest that the remains of his Soviet arm were gone. "I feel like I got hit by a tank," he said, groggily. He looked at T'Challa. "Did it work?" he asked. "Yes. It took some time but we managed to reverse the conditioning HYDRA had put in. We also surgically removed the remnants of your destroyed arm. My sister will be designing and making you a new one but only if you want it," the King said. Bucky sat quietly as his heart rate and blood pressure were taken. "He's stable, my King. He just needs some rest and then we can start physical therapy," the nurse replied. T'Challa thanked her and turned to Bucky again.

"Are you feeling well enough to walk? There's someone here who would like to see you," he said. Curious, Bucky slowly got to his feet. "Who?" he asked, warily. Aside from Steve, who else knew he was in Wakanda? "She's a most interesting character. Arrived in Wakanda not long after the coup against me was ended. She somehow knew you were here in my care and refused to leave until she saw you again. Okoye was rather put out but she's come to respect her spunk," the King replied as he led the soldier out of the door. Bucky wondered who it could possibly be. The thought made him nervous. "How long was I out?" he asked. "About five months. We were working on you when we ran into problems with my...cousin...Erik Stevens, also known as Killmonger. Fortunately, he never found about you. Otherwise, it's likely you would've been killed in your sleep," T'Challa replied. Bucky balked at learning that. _"What does it take to get some peace?"_ he thought.

He was still deep in thought when they exited the building. When T'Challa brought him out of it with a hand to his shoulder, Bucky looked up at him before following his gaze. He froze when he saw Phoenix grazing. It had been a year since they last met. She had come across him in Romania and it was there that they had forged a connection. All thought stopped when she raised her head to look in their direction. Even at the distance between them, Bucky could see her entire face light up before she cantered over to meet them. Bucky staggered forward, his eyes stinging. With the knowledge he was finally free of HYDRA, he finally knew her to be real. Phoenix slowed to a halt in front of him and didn't shy away as he collapsed against her side, his face to her neck.

Phoenix looked at T'Challa. "Thank you," she said. The King merely nodded before walking away to wait for Bucky at the lab. The chimera snorted as she brought her head around. She took in Bucky's appearance. His hair was longer than the last time she had seen him about a year ago in this world's time and the stubble she had seen on his face was now a full-fledged beard. All in all, he cut a handsome figure for a human. Any trace of his bionic left arm was gone. T'Challa had told her the story and her heart went out to this old soldier who was currently trying to hold it together and failing. She could empathize. Bucky was free at last. However, the trauma of everything that ever happened to him since he fell in 1944 would always be there. He would always carry those scars. It seemed the dam finally broke and he was allowed to grieve and feel relief afterward. "I can't believe you're here. Every damn time we've said good-bye, I always felt like I was just talking to a figment of my imagination. Something my mind conjured up just to keep myself sane," Bucky said against her neck.

"I was always real, Bucky. But I suppose it took having your mind taken apart and put back together correctly in order to convince you of that truth. And to be fair, we only met three times. One of those times, you tried to steal my tail," the chimera said, letting her head rest on his left shoulder. Bucky welcomed the weight of her head and groaned a bit at her words. "Don't remind me," he said. "I aim to tell the truth, though. But that's in the past. I'm just glad you're better. I asked T'Challa to bring you to me as soon as he could when you woke up," Phoenix said. Bucky pulled back so he could stroke her fur with his remaining hand. She just smiled when she saw him pointedly avoiding her gaze. "Speak your mind," she encouraged. "You're letting me touch you. Your usual aversion aside, how can you stand it...after all I did?" he asked.

"Because I believe as your friend, Steve, does. You know that I know everything you have done. Yes, you did all those things. Yes, you killed countless humans and yes, you tried to kill me once. But that doesn't change the simple truth that you were not in control. How do we judge anything in your case? You have to understand that I'm not a human. My standards are completely different. A dog wouldn't care what you did in your past as long as you show it kindness today. That's how I view the world. I'm sapient and think on a human level but that doesn't change what I am. I can never look at the world the way a human does and I can never look at you the way a human does," she explained. Bucky still looked unsure and the chimera sighed. She pulled away so she could face him head-on.

"James Buchanan Barnes, I want you to think about what I'm going to say and take it to heart. The man who upended so many lives, shot my tail off, and threatened to kill me was the Winter Soldier. He is not you. You are not him. You never were him. He was a weapon someone was pointing at me from the shadows. You have never laid a hand on me without my consent. If I can separate the two sides that make you, then I hope you'll come to do the same. I hope that someday, you'll come to see yourself the way I see you," she said. The former Soldier looked at her with those soulful eyes she had grown fond of. "And how do you see me?" he asked. "I see a man who has more in common with me then he knows. I was created by combining the genetic traits of three different animal species and granted life through alchemy. I was made. You were torn apart and made into something else. We're abominations on some level. But that's what makes us...well, us. You're the only one, human or otherwise, that I identify with on that level. I don't even identify that well with my own kind. I was the only one who was...born, not grown in a test tube," she replied.

Phoenix turned to look at the land around them, a gentle look on her face as she took in the beauty of the world she was in. "I've been to many places and met many people, Bucky. But you're the first human I've made this kind of a connection with. I look at you and see myself, a soul who just wants peace and rest. A soul who wants to find a place in this world," she mused. She had taken a step away as she spoke before she swung her head to look at him. "Answer me this, Bucky. Do you blame me for abandoning you to your fate in 1944?" she asked. When he slowly shook his head, she closed her eyes. "There you go. Just as you don't blame me for leaving you to your fate back then, I don't blame you for anything you had done since then," she said.

"I didn't know you were real then," Bucky pointed out. "But now you know I am and it changes nothing," she countered. Turning to face him again, she had a playful look on her face. She brought her tail up and gently tapped his heart with the stinger. "I know it will take time for you to come to terms with everything you did and I hope that in some small way, I helped you down the road of healing. This heart of yours still retains the kindness and ability to love within it. HYDRA could never take it from you. I can't prove your worth to you but know that your worth to me is beyond measure," she said, bringing her tail back to rest position. Bucky blinked for a moment before he closed his eyes with a small smile. He closed the small distance and brought his forehead to rest on her face.

"Thank you,"

* * *

The late afternoon sun peeked through the trees, falling on the dozing forms of Phoenix and Bucky. They had whiled away a lot of time talking before quiet settled in and they fell asleep. The man woke up first, sighing and feeling more rested than he had in a long time. He took stock of things and noticed he had been sleeping against the chimera's side. She was lying with her forelegs folded under her, her hind legs out a little, and her head rested on the ground, leaning against one of her horns. Her horns were glowing curiously. His brow furrowed at that, remembering he had seen that glow once before in Romania. Why were her horns glowing? From the snatches of conversations they had before dozing off, she said her magic was limited to healing and some other ability she declined to share. Had she been healing him while they slept or was this normal for her regardless? Her face had the ghost of sadness on it and her ears were twitching a little.

He just looked upon her, taking in the wild beauty there was to see in such an unusual and unnatural animal. He wondered what disturbed her sleep because it became apparent to him that she was dreaming. He tilted his head in surprise when he saw legitimate tears force themselves out from under her eyes. That wasn't normal by any stretch. Nonhuman mammals couldn't cry as an emotional response. Unsure if he should rouse her from whatever she was dreaming about, Bucky just allowed his remaining hand to rhythmically run itself across the plane of her neck. He felt tight muscle under his fingers, familiar to him because take away the horns, the scales, and the tail, Phoenix was just a horse. In the sun, her fur glistened like liquid silver and it was soft as expected.

He paused when he saw the glow fade out and she opened her violet eyes, staring out into the distance as she came back to reality. "You okay?" he asked, softly. The eye he could see shifted to look at him. "I'm sorry...for robbing you of your future. I'm so sorry," she said, just as softly with a distinct crack to her voice. Bucky just smiled gently, leaning his forehead to the powerful neck. "What are you talking about?" he asked, even though he had a rough idea already. "If I had just...intervened all those years ago, you could've lived your best life. Coming home from war, finding someone to form a pair-bond with, having a family. My inaction that day cost you so much," she explained, keeping her head on the ground.

It kind of surprised Bucky how torn up she sounded despite delivering her words in a calm manner. "I don't blame you," he said, trying to sound convincing. Another person would've bought his words without a second thought but Phoenix was different. She was a wild animal who just happened to think on the same intellectual level as human beings and was able to verbalize. She could still sense his own uncertainty despite this having been the second time he had assured her she had no fault to be absolved of. Bucky didn't think he had lied either time but maybe she thought differently. He decided to lead the conversation where it needed to go.

"I saw your horns glowing when I woke up. Is that normal?" he asked. The creature took a deep breath, making him smile a little as her belly pushed against his back. "I might as well come clean and tell you I was using magic to ease your own rest," she answered. Somehow, that didn't surprise the former assassin. It certainly explained why he felt so rested after decades of being on ice or the months he spent as a fugitive when the nightmares were almost nightly. It also meant she had done the same thing in Romania. "And why were you crying?" he asked. Phoenix shifted her head away from him, guilt gnawing at her insides. "I couldn't turn them off. The dreams that filtered from you to me. I had to watch you fall...over and over and over. I had to watch more victims than I could count beg for their lives before the Winter Soldier ended them. I even got a look at the mission HYDRA sent him on to take my telson. Sometimes, I was seeing everything as a third party. In some cases, I was in the victims' shoes. Others...I was seeing it from your perspective. I felt so many things," she said, her voice growing quieter with each word.

Bucky was knocked forward suddenly when she shot onto her hooves. Her tail was curling between rest and full mast agitatedly. Bucky recognized the signs of a mental breakdown a mile off and got to his feet. He reached out and grasped one of her horns, forcing her to hold still. "Calm down, sweetheart. Focus on my voice," he said. "I should've stopped it back then. I never should've let them take you away," she muttered, her eyes staring off to a point down her nose. "Do you think I blame you?" he asked. "You say you don't...but you're lying," she replied, still not entirely there. "I don't. What happened happened. We can't change it and you can't carry that with you. I have enough on my conscience without you adding to it, blaming yourself for things out of your control," Bucky said.

The tears were falling again but he gently stroked the plane of her cheek, offhandedly wishing he had a left hand to properly do this. She closed her eyes and he wondered how often she felt gentleness. Of course, the husband she had spoken of would have shown her such things but it always a different story when it came to humans. It struck him that he was seeing her less as an animal and more as a woman. Her body obviously wasn't changing but just the overall impression she was leaving was more womanly than animalistic. "God, you're beautiful," he said, quietly. Whether that had been the thing that got through to her, he couldn't guess. All Bucky knew was it had the intended effect of bringing Phoenix out of her head.

She swung her head slowly to look at him. Taking a deep breath, she rested her head against him of her own accord. He could tell she was still destabilized from taking on his nightmares unfiltered. He wasn't sure how it worked but that didn't make it any less real. He swung his arm across her withers and leaned his face into her. Her tail finally came to rest position and stayed. "The dream of the Winter Soldier confronting me was always from a third party perspective. I'd see him trailing me, making calculations, lining up the shot, and then pulling the trigger. I'd see myself crash to the ground and then he'd jump from the tree he sniped me from. Onto his mechanical horse and closing the distance," she said, quietly.

Bucky remembered that mission. HYDRA had taken advantage of his training as a sniper during the war and used it to terrible effect. He had been up a tree about five hundred yards from where she had been grazing at the time before the alarms in her head went off. He still managed to peg the shot before she got too far. Once he confirmed her crash through his scope, he had wasted no time getting onto his motorbike (hearing what she called it almost made him laugh) and heading to her location. He privately wished Phoenix wouldn't speak of his other side as if he was a separate entity. She knew it had been him who pulled the trigger. He came to realize it was just easier for her to separate his two sides, refusing to cave to the truth but contrarily accepting it all the same. He said nothing as Phoenix continued to speak. He found her voice soothing. "Damn, he was mad when I crushed my telson underhoof. He didn't show it but I could feel it. I'll admit the rush of defiance made me feel invincible," she said with a shaky laugh.

The old soldier could tell she was still wasn't completely over the things she had stolen from him. Her head was lowering a bit and she was crying silently again. He settled for leaning against her, whispering how beautiful she was over and over again, how she would be just fine, that the nightmare was over. She had willingly taken on his burdens just so he could have peace in rest. "Thank you, Phoenix. And I forgive you. I hope you know that," he said. She looked at him and just nodded. He pulled back, running his hand through his hair. He watched the chimera turn away and walk off, needing some solitude. Once again, he marveled at how naturally all her traits fell into place. Whoever had made her had done her wrong in subjecting her to a life she didn't believe she had a right to but at the same time, he was grateful all the same. She was a rock, keeping him grounded and he had helped her when she needed him just then. Bucky headed back into the lab. He knew he had a round of tests that needed to be done and he hadn't meant to doze off earlier. The fact no one came for him was proof that T'Challa knew both he and Phoenix needed that time alone together. They really were two peas in a pod and Bucky felt that their bond had grown a little stronger.


	5. Trauma

It had been a long battle. Phoenix was in Wakanda when Thanos came. While she had remained undetected and mostly out of the fighting, she still found herself accosted by his Outriders. The mindless way they attacked meant that her husband's spell had been kicked into overdrive. The downside was that even though it acted autonomously, it still drew on her inherent energy. By the time the battle was over, she was running on fumes. Exhausted, Phoenix made her way to where she had last seen Bucky. When she got there, a sudden shift in the wind caused her heart rate to spike. She picked up whatever speed she could and arrived just in time to witness something she would never forget.

"Steve?"

The unseen Phoenix and the Avengers watched as people all around them started turning to ash. Bucky was one of the first to disappear. The chimera had frozen in place as she watched him fall and disintegrate in front of her. She heard and felt confusion in the air and it was so thick, she found it hard to breathe. After a minute, the man she knew to be Steve Rogers sat beside the broken body of the android known as Vision. "Oh God," she heard him gasp as if from far away. Her eyes had stayed where Bucky had disappeared. No longer caring about staying hidden, Phoenix came out into the open, catching the remaining Avengers' attention. "The hell?" she heard the woman with blonde hair say. "Bucky?" she rasped. She pawed at the ash where he had fallen, his gun nearby. "No, no, no, no...please, no," she said.

Her wild violet eyes looked up at the Avengers. "Where is he? Where did Bucky go? Please!" she pleaded. Nerves already shot from the battle with Thanos, the Black Order, and the Outriders, several of the remaining Avengers got ready for a second fight but Steve held his arm out to make them stand down. He looked at the strange animal and recognized her from the stories Bucky had told him while they were flying to Siberia. "You knew Bucky?" he asked. "I _know _him. What happened? Why did all those humans suddenly turn to ash?" she asked, her tail flexing erratically. "We...don't know," Steve replied. "Thanos snapped his fingers. That's what he did," came the voice of Thor. He landed by Steve and slammed the head of Stormbreaker to the ground. Phoenix looked at him, eyes wide as saucers. "And they disappeared?" she said in a mere whisper. Thor just nodded.

Steve watched as the animal dropped her nose to the ash at her hooves. She was starting to panic from the way she pawed at it and the way her tail was moving was making his teammates nervous. "Calm down, Phoenix," he said, recalling Bucky had told him her name. That seemed to snap her out of it a bit and she met his gaze again. "Who was Bucky to you?" he asked. Swallowing hard, Phoenix tried to focus on the question. "He was...my friend," she decided on the truth. "Friend?" Steve asked. Bucky had told him about her but not the nature of their relationship. Phoenix shifted again. "I...I don't know what else to call him," she admitted. Was he a friend? All things considered, it was the best way to sum up their connection. Steve slowly knelt down and unhooked the shields T'Challa had given him to use. He just as slowly straightened up and raised his hands in a show of nonaggression.

Phoenix watched him approach with his hands up. She only had Bucky's word that Steve was a good soul who wouldn't hurt a fly unless he was in a fight. She allowed him to get close but she shifted away from his hands. "Please...don't touch me," she said in a whisper, eyeing his hands warily. Steve lowered his hands with a nod, confirming for himself what his best friend had talked about. How Phoenix was a creature who associated human hands with pain and only allowed those she trusted to touch her. "You need to keep it together before you hurt someone," he said. It was strange how he could make an order sound like a calm suggestion but it did nothing for her frayed nerves and the sudden sense that a part of her had been torn out.

Steve jumped back as the animal suddenly seized and blood started gushing from her mouth. Her violet eyes just stared into nothingness as more blood came from her nose, eyes, and even from between her scales. "Steve? What's happening?" Natasha asked, on edge. "No idea," the Captain replied. He swallowed before Phoenix looked up at him. His eyes widened when he saw the telltale look of emotional trauma. "I'm sorry," she gasped before more blood rushed out with a vengeance. Steve looked helplessly at Natasha, Bruce, and Thor. They were just as stunned as he was. One moment, Phoenix was telling them how she knew Bucky, and the next, she was bleeding out like a stuck pig. It was dawning on them that the strange creature was hemorrhaging.

"What's happening to you?" Steve asked when she finally had a moment to breathe. Phoenix went to reply but she seized again, eyes widening. She collapsed with a heavy thud, her head bouncing off the ground. More blood spilled out from her jaws as her tail curled. "Steve, we need to figure out how to stop all that blood. Otherwise, this thing's going to bleed out and die here. I'm not sure if I buy what she said about Barnes but I don't want her to be another casualty if we can help it," Natasha said, striding forward. She knelt down, ignoring Phoenix's previous words about not wanting to be touched, and set a hand on her neck. She started to rhythmically stroke her in an attempt to calm her down. The animal's face was contorted in sorrow, fear, and disbelief as it had finally caught up with her that she had watched a friend turn to dust in front of her along with her deteriorating physical state.

* * *

Phoenix's tail twitched aimlessly. The Avengers managed to find a scientist who survived the Snap and they worked quickly to administer something to her. It took a while but eventually, the blood stopped coming and she was stabilized, if a little anemic. They were forced to leave her where she had collapsed because of her size but they all worked to clear the area of bloodstained leaves and ash and dug a rut for her horn. Natasha cleaned Phoenix herself and gave her a sedative. Her inherent magic kept it from working to its full potential but she felt calmer than she had before. Her breathing was slow as she started to internalize what had transpired.

Having been human enough to cry for a number of years, Phoenix just lay on her side and let the tears flow. It felt like hell. Her ear twitched backward when she heard someone coming her way, their steps slow and their intention to not startle her. "You okay?" came Steve's voice. Phoenix just inhaled deeply and let it out. She was afraid of her body going on the fritz again. The so-called Captain America sat down next to her and looked at her. She looked a bit shellshocked but otherwise normal. "Bucky told me about you. Would it hurt too much to talk about it? I want to know your side," Steve said. Taking another deep breath, Phoenix's hoof shifted towards her body but she didn't roll onto her belly.

"In 1944, I was in the mountains when I heard a...train, I think you humans call it...and looked up in time to see him falling. Something compelled me to find him. When I did, he was lying on his back, missing his left arm, and staring up at the sky as the snow fell. At the time, I didn't know how he survived that fall. I healed him as best I could and stayed with him through the night. I'd like to think I saved his life that day...but I would be lying. HYDRA had more to do with that than I did. The following morning, he was found by them. I had left his side before they discovered me there. Not a day goes by where I don't regret my decision to hide. If I had _just _done something to save him from his ultimate fate, I wouldn't have been the one who robbed him of his future," she began, her voice quiet and far away. Steve looked at her. "It wasn't your fault, Phoenix. You couldn't have known. I believe you did save him but I refuse to believe you robbed him of anything. It was all HYDRA. So how did you manage to make it to this century? Something tells me you didn't come the long way," he said.

"My Road goes between the dimensions of time and space when I hop worlds. When it circled back here again, it was 2014. I learned a few truths and I came to HYDRA's attention. They sent him after me. They were after my stinger. I was able to escape but not before he had me on the ground with a gun to my head," she replied. Steve looked at her, shocked, but she continued to look at nothing. "Do you blame him?" he asked instead. "No. The man who had me pinned down wasn't Bucky. Just a weapon someone was pointing at me from the shadows. My Road didn't take long to phase me out and it circled around to this world a third time. That time, we crossed paths in Romania. He was heading to Bucharest. I was walking in the opposite direction. We just talked after I ascertained that it was Bucky I was talking to and not the weapon that had taken me down months prior. Nothing really special. I ended up accompanying him to the edge of the forest and we parted ways there," she replied.

She didn't move when she felt Steve's hand come to rest on her neck. "Were you there when he woke up?" came the question. "Yes. I stuck around for a while. Then this whole thing with Thanos happened. I just never imagined it was possible for people to disappear like that. I never...lost anyone like that. And it scares me," came the response. "You really cared about him. Loved him as a friend even," Steve said. Phoenix closed her eyes, choosing not to respond. She wasn't sure that was accurate. She had claimed Bucky as a friend but that was all she could think of to call him. As for Steve saying she loved him like one, perhaps that was true. They were only in each other's company for short bursts but a bond had been forged between them regardless. Phoenix was wild. She had no master but she supposed that if she were less sapient, she would've come to regard and love Bucky as such.

"I'm curious about why you suddenly started hemorrhaging earlier. Was that because of what happened to Bucky?" Steve then asked. "No...that was going to happen regardless. During the battle, my husband's spell was in a near-constant state of release. It draws on my energy to work even though I have no direct control over it. The fact those Outriders had a swarm mentality meant that I was going to be in over my head no matter what, so the spell fired off and just kept burning. By the time it was all over, my body was weakened to the point where it started to fall apart. Rest easy. As we speak, my inherent magic is already healing me. It would take more than that to kill me. I'm just glad...he didn't have to see me like that," she said.

Sighing, Phoenix decided to go all the way and admit something. "It happened to me once before, for a different reason, when Bucky and I met in Romania. We ended up falling asleep in the woods overnight and I decided to take on his burdens. I wanted him to have at least one night of peaceful sleep. The connection we forged allowed me to draw on his inner turmoil and demons. I didn't start hemorrhaging a little until he was on his way to the city when we parted ways at the forest's edge. It wasn't nearly as bad that time around. It was worth it, though. I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. I know...what it's like to live in a world that hates you. I just...wanted him to know he wasn't alone. That someone cared about him," she explained. Her eyes slid shut as Steve looked at her sadly. Silence fell between her and the Captain. His hand was mindlessly running down her neck and she found she didn't mind. It was funny considering she had met Steve literally that day. Her horns started to glow as she decided to dive deep within herself. Bucky was gone but a trace of him remained.

* * *

_Deep inside her soul, Phoenix found herself face to face with the Winter Soldier as she remembered him. She just tilted her head as the masked man regarded her in kind. "I don't want to see you. You're just a weapon," she said. Her tail snapped, her stinger hitting the Soldier dead center. The Soldier's eyes widened in shock at the blow before his visage shattered like glass, revealing Bucky as she saw him in Romania. "No...I don't want you either," she said, sadly. She snapped her tail again and that version of Bucky also shattered. Before her stood the one she had met long ago. He wore his Howling Commandos uniform, hair short with a shadow coming in on his face. Unlike when they first met, he was still whole in body. He had his hands shoved in his pockets as he regarded the chimera. He then pulled his hands out and reached out invitingly. Phoenix just closed the distance at her own pace and let his hands take her head, leaning his forehead to hers. "I'm sorry...," she said. Deep down, she knew she had to leave this world behind and return home. She needed her husband. She needed Seiryu._

* * *

Steve looked down when he noticed something was off. Phoenix's body was starting to phase out. She opened her eyes and rolled them up to look at him. "Don't be afraid. My Road is calling me home again. I'm sorry to leave you like this and I'm sorry about him," she said. Steve just smiled a little and pat her neck. "Just keep moving forward," he said. Phoenix gave a shaky laugh. "Says the man who won't do the same. I can read you. Before I go, I do have a question," she said. "What's that?" the Captain asked. "Why are you here with me and not off on your own to mourn him?" she asked. Steve looked to the horizon. That was a good question. "I guess...I didn't want you to be alone," he replied. The chimera sighed and her eyes drifted closed. "Thank you. I can't promise I'll come this way again...but I hope the future is kinder," she said. With those final words, Phoenix phased out of that reality and found herself between dimensions. She just started walking her Road, heart heavy, and wondering if she'd ever see that world again.


	6. End of the Line

_SPOILERS FOR ENDGAME_

* * *

The battle was over. It had been a wild ride. After Thanos was Snapped out of existence by Tony Stark, who died as a result, Steve Rogers had taken the Infinity Stones back to their proper places in time. He didn't return when he should have, which Bucky Barnes had known was going to happen. He and Sam Wilson then found Steve as an old man sitting nearby. Steve bequeathed his shield and mantle as Captain America to Sam. Bucky was fine with that. He knew that everything he had done as the Winter Soldier meant he wasn't worthy of either the shield or the mantle.

At the moment, Bucky was lying under a tree on Stark's property. He was alone. Everyone else respected his need for space. Pepper Potts, Stark's widow, allowed him to stay as long as he wanted. Bucky just meditated and internalized how much his life had changed over the past few decades. After returning the Stones, Steve had gotten the life he had wanted after the war. He had effectively been left behind but again, Bucky was fine with that and for the same reason as being passed over for the Captain America mantle. That didn't mean it didn't hurt. His heart was wounded and filled with regrets. His greatest was that he wasn't able to meet Stark on equal footing and apologize for murdering his parents as the Winter Soldier.

Closing his blue-grey eyes, Bucky's mind started drifting towards Phoenix, a chimera he had made contact with several times over the years. He had gotten the full story about what happened to her after the first Snap. Hearing that she had mourned him surprised him on some level. They had a bond, true, but he didn't think the bond was that strong. They were together in short bursts in 1944, 2014, 2016, and 2018. Did her status as an animal mean that the connection they had was much stronger on her end? He didn't rightfully know but he accepted it all the same. He just cherished the fact that she accepted him and his past without judgment. She believed in him to the same length as Steve, if not more. He thought back to when they reunited in Wakanda a few years ago. Both of them were undeniably happy to see each other. Bucky had been freed of his HYDRA programming and he no longer doubted the scorpion-tailed, horned horse was indeed a legitimately real creature.

He wished she would come back. According to Steve, she had phased out of reality not long after he had been dusted and hadn't been seen in the five years since. Steve had also told him she had been involved in the battle of Wakanda because she appeared before him and the survivors of the Snap when it was all over. Bucky had known she was there but he hadn't seen her since the fighting started. Cap told the White Wolf that Phoenix had been in a bad way when it was all said and done. She had started hemorrhaging from having her husband's spell active throughout the ordeal and Steve ventured a guess that losing him had exacerbated her condition. Bucky wanted to apologize but knew that she would never accept it. Because she would see no fault in him. Phoenix had told him once that a dog wouldn't judge him for his past or misdeeds as long as he showed kindness to it today. That was how she, a talking animal, saw the world. As far as Phoenix was concerned, Bucky was a good man who had been nothing but kind to her. She didn't even hold his actions against her as the Winter Soldier over him.

He felt something in the wind shift and his heart knew that she had arrived. He kept his eyes closed and a smile on his lips. His enhanced hearing picked up the sounds of footfalls belonging to something big. They got closer until they stopped. He opened his eyes and his smile grew wider as they met the violet eyes of his strange friend. Phoenix was looking down at him with a humanlike smile on her face. He reached up with his flesh hand to set it on her face. They said nothing but their eyes conveyed everything. Phoenix's violet eyes spoke of how joyous she was at seeing him alive and his blue-greys spoke volumes of how happy he was to see her. The chimera, who had been standing at his head, moved to his side. She turned around and lay down next to him, her head coming around to rest on his chest. Her eyes closed and Bucky let his hand run along her neck.

* * *

Phoenix knew the moment her Road reopened the way to this world that it had a reason. Bucky had somehow returned, as did the half of this universe that had been dusted by Thanos. She didn't know how she knew or why but she found she didn't care. All she did know and care about was that he had come back. Five years had passed in this world's time since she lost him. She had faded from this reality and returned home after everything went down. She spent the time coming to terms with everything and taking the words Steve Rogers had said to her to heart. She had told her husband, Seiryu High King, everything about her roundtrips to this world and he encouraged her by listening and providing wisdom. He suggested that it was possible the denizens who were dusted may have ended up in some other dimension so once she recovered enough, Phoenix left All World once more to find if that dimension existed. She found no trace of it at all and had all but given up hope.

That's when her Road circled back to this world. The year was now 2023. Her Road dropped her where she needed to be and it was then she sensed Bucky's presence in her heart. She followed the way until it led her to him. Joy filled her being at seeing him lying under a tree. She closed the distance and it was easy to tell that Bucky knew she was there. He didn't look at her until she stood over him. When their eyes met for the first time in five years, they both knew words were superfluous. He reached up to touch her and she allowed it. She moved to lie down next to him and got comfy with her head on his chest. She enjoyed the feeling of him brushing her neck and let the sounds of nature fill her ears. Her emotions started to run high. The only sign she gave was her ears slowly moving to pin themselves back.

"Steve told me what happened. I hope you know that nothing was your fault." Bucky's voice cut through her thoughts. "I know. That's not why I'm feeling horrible right now." Phoenix replied. She opened her eyes, feeling a couple of tears slide down. She lifted her head to look at him a bit easier. "I lost you, Bucky. Then you lost your friend again and I...feel that," she said, her voice growing quieter. Bucky sat up and scooted back so he could look at her easier. "I sometimes forget that you're entuned to the feelings of people, just like any companion animal. Your sapience makes it tougher to deal with because you can verbalize it, doesn't it?" he asked. Phoenix just broke eye contact. She could feel his resignation about everything that happened to him and she could feel his resolve. He was ready to face the future. She, however, was overtaken by the past. "I lost you..." she choked out.

* * *

Bucky wrapped his arms around her neck and rested his face against her coat. There had been several times in their previous encounters where she had given him strength. He wanted to return the favor. Judging from the story Steve had told him, Phoenix had been traumatized by seeing him turn to dust in front of her. Like the survivors, she couldn't understand why it happened. It had been five years since then but considering she was (for all intents and purposes) an inter-dimensional being, he had no idea if five years had passed in her homeworld. He held her firmly, willing some strength to the defeated creature.

After a bit, the chimera settled down. Bucky had moved to lean against the tree while Phoenix had her head in his lap. "Feel better?" he asked. "Yes. Much. Sorry about that," she replied. "Don't be sorry. I understand how traumatizing it must have been for you," Bucky said. Phoenix took a deep breath and let it out. "I don't cultivate bonds with other beings that easily because of what I am. So when those bonds do form, I get attached very quickly," she explained. That went without saying. She brought her head up to look at him out of a violet eye. "I can say for sure now that if I were less sapient, you would make a good master," she said. The old soldier just chuckled. "I can't see you being someone's pet. You're way too human. You're meant to run wild and free as well. But the idea is nice, though. I could see us as companions," he said.

His thumb started tracing a line down her cheek. "I'm not going to lie but if it weren't for a few snags, I'd ask you to stay with me," he mused. Phoenix just nibbled at his sleeve. "And I'm not going to lie either. I wouldn't mind staying," she agreed. She got to her hooves and lowered her head. Bucky got the message. She wanted him to take hold of her horns. He complied and let her pull him to his feet. "Nice arm, by the way," she said, eyeing the black and gold piece of Wakandan tech. "Vibranium. Stronger than my previous arm," he said with a grin. The two started to take a slow walk around the Stark property, a companionable silence falling between them. Bucky just watched as Phoenix would pause here and there to sniff something.

It was always during those moments of quiet that she acted the most like a horse. She'd randomly throw her head around and her tail would twitch from time to time. He started laughing as she started cantering in circles around him as he walked. Then he watched her run full tilt away from him before looping around again to blow past him. When she looped again to come his way, Bucky started to run himself. He was faster than the average person, thanks to the experiments he had been subjected to, but it didn't take long for Phoenix to catch up and outpace him. He slowed down to a stop as she circled back. She came to a stop in front of him and reared, letting out a bell-like call. Her hooves came down to the earth and she shook her head. "Showoff," Bucky said.

* * *

"I aim to please," she replied, with a snarky edge to her voice. She leaned into the hand he set on her head. "How long do you have?" Bucky asked, his voice taking on a sad, wistful edge. "Until I phase out of this world? I can stay as long as I want. Trust me, Bucky, I won't leave you until the time is right," Phoenix assured him. The man leaned his forehead to her face and sighed. The chimera nickered a bit before pulling away a little. "You do realize I could come back anytime, right? When we say goodbye this time, it won't be forever," she assured him. The White Wolf cracked a grin before brushing his hair aside. "You always appear when I need you the most, you know? My memory is still a little hazy but I remember you from long ago...after the fall. You came to me, kept me warm, healed what you could. Then years later when I was ordered to hunt you down, even then, I still needed you. It gave whatever was left of me something to latch on." he explained. Phoenix let her head tilt, taking in his words.

Bucky flexed his vibranium hand. He felt more at ease with it than he had with his previous arm. This one, he wasn't afraid of hurting anyone with it. "Then you came to me while I was in Romania. I was lost, scared, sad. You eased my fears when you let me touch you, even though it came at great discomfort to you. I don't know what happened to make you fear human touch but you healed me so much by trusting me at a time when I didn't trust myself. You really are an angel. I keep heaping a lot of my problems on that strong back of yours, Phoenix. I am really sorry. I owe you a debt I can never repay," he said.

"I may be a chimera but I'm still a beast of burden. I don't mind carrying the weight. You don't owe me anything. I care about you and that is a priceless thing," she said, gently hitting his arm with a horn. Bucky smiled before he moved to run his hands on the plate scales along her back. "Have you ever been ridden?" he ventured. "Once. And I didn't have much of a choice. I had to get a friend out of a jam," Phoenix explained, thinking back to a particular world she had been legitimately trapped in. A friend of hers from that world had gotten into trouble with their mutual enemies and she had to bail him out by letting him on her back. "Think I could give it a shot?" Bucky asked. The chimera rolled her eyes. "Not a chance," she said. The soldier just nodded before leaning on her back. "Fair enough. Thought it was worth a shot," he said. Phoenix brought her head around to give him an incredulous look. "Do you even know how to ride?" she asked. "Nope," came the reply.

"You mean to tell me that if I allowed you on my back...you wouldn't have known what to do?" she asked. Bucky shot her a grin. She then started to laugh. "James Buchanan Barnes, you are something else," she said. "You know you love me," he fired back. Phoenix used her tail to jab him, opting to hit his vibranium arm. Less chance of accidentally stabbing him with her stinger. Even a dry hit would hurt like hell. "I suppose I do," she said. She walked over to the edge of the lake and looked out across it. Her entire posture spoke of a pensive mood. She heard Bucky sit down nearby and the telltale sound of a knife on wood.

* * *

A good half-hour had passed as Bucky whittled a wood block. He was calm and contemplating that perhaps it was time for Phoenix to go back wherever she came from. Granted, she said she wouldn't until she was sure he was okay. Bucky knew that she couldn't stay with him for the rest of his life. She had a home and someone waiting for her there. So he decided to make the most of their time together and really get to know her. "Hey, Phoenix?" he asked, getting her attention. "What is it?" she replied. "I've been meaning to ask you a question. Which you don't have to answer because it's generally considered rude to ask a woman her age. How old are you exactly? I know horses can live up to around 30 years but I can't shake this feeling you're older than that," he said. Phoenix smiled as she turned back to face the lake. "Good thing I'm not actually a woman then but even if I was, I wouldn't see anything wrong with being asked my age. I was born in 1869. I think it's safe to say I have my mother's kind's longevity," she replied easily.

Bucky raised his eyebrows in surprise. She was 154 years old? That kind of went without saying, given her overall appearance. The mention of her mother and her mother's kind had been bugging him for a while. "That's another thing. You keep referring to a mother and giving me the impression she's somehow different than you. I remember you telling me you were created through alchemy," he said. Phoenix's eyes closed but the corners of her mouth were pulled back in a humanlike smile. He locked eyes with her when she looked at him. "Remember when I told you I was also the only one of my kind who was born, not grown in a test tube?" she asked. When he nodded, she shook her body out. "There you go. The DNA that makes up the bulk of my body came from a unicorn, as you know. The same mare whose DNA provided the base genome ended up carrying me to term. It's all pretty technical and the circumstances that led to it all are not my story to tell. Let's just say it was...traumatic for my mother. She never had a choice. She didn't get to raise me either. My creator took me away not long after I was born and turned her loose," she explained.

Bucky just nodded in understanding. He could think of several scenarios she was implying but only one came to mind as the most likely. It was rather strange to assign the scenario to animals. After all, animals were bound by their biology and Nature's call. When breeding cycles began, that was all there was to it. Phoenix and those like her had the concept of _choice, _just like humans. Her mother had no choice in anything that had been done to her and had a deeper understanding of trauma. She was, by definition, a victim. Bucky was struck with the realization that Phoenix was the same. He knew that being dusted in front of her was traumatizing for her but it hit him like a Mach truck that her trauma was felt at a _human _level. Lesser animals could feel emotional trauma but they didn't understand it on the same level as people. Phoenix was so human that she could.

This realization brought up a question. "Does she hate you?" he asked, bluntly. Phoenix shook her head in the negative. "When we met for the first time since my birth, she was nothing but kind to me. Told me it was better she had given birth to me instead of...," she trailed off. She looked at Bucky who, judging from the look on his face, wasn't buying it completely. As if she were downplaying any resentment her mother had for her. "Look, the alternative would've been much worse. For every equine on the Continent. It would've resulted in an entire species making a return after the centuries it took the Masters and others to eradicate them. My mother makes it no secret that she'd never live with herself if she was the one who helped bring that species back. And where would that leave Tempest, her best friend? My birth does signal a great change in her Nation when she's gone but trust me, she told me when she first saw me at birth, she felt nothing but a mother's love. I'm a chimera, sure, but I'm still her foal. She doesn't have it in her to hate. She's gone through too much." she explained.

Bucky figured he probably should've known better. Phoenix and those like her were very human to an extent but they still operated on a different scale. Her mother was a victim but apparently, one who was genuinely grateful her foal was a chimera instead of the mystery species that Phoenix didn't name. He decided to steer the direction away a bit. "So your mother's a unicorn and I suppose that means you'll live a long time," he said. "Yes. They have a 300-year lifespan on average. I wasn't sure I would've gotten that longevity as a chimera but given how long I've lived already, it seems to be the case," she responded. "How long do chimeras live anyway? Do they all look like you?" he asked. "I'm the only one who looks like me. To my knowledge at least. Chimeras are a genetic circus of different traits and combinations. Because we're created illegally, there's no way to know how many of us there are but many end up dying young," she explained.

Bucky inferred that her kind was likely depressive, if not completely suicidal. "We're hunted as well. We're not looked at favorably but we do have poachers who find us good sport. Many of my kind were also lost to the Masters' own claws way back when they were raiding labs and destroying chimeric embryos. Then there were chimeras who were lost to Sudden Genetic Collapse," Phoenix said as if reading his mind. The thought made him angry. From everything she had told him, chimeras were living animals cast a bad lot in life and were punished for the deeds of their creators. None of them asked to be made. It was hard enough thinking the animals had to deal with mental health issues like depression and suicidal thoughts but knowing they were being poached for sport, it made his blood boil. Even the Masters were involved in the killing. He inferred that Sudden Genetic Collapse probably had to do with the genetic structure of a chimera failing on a catastrophic level. It hit him then that chimeras were just like him. Just as they never asked to be made, he never asked for his seventy years as the world's longest serving POW and brainwashed into an assassin.

Bucky was on his feet and closing the distance between himself and Phoenix. He took her curled horns in his hands and pushed his forehead to her face. The chimera just snorted horselike but didn't pull back. "You live in a cruel world, you know? Something as beautiful as you should never be hunted or condemned for being what you are. And this sentiment extends to the rest of your kind," he said. He heard her shift her weight from one side to the other but she kept her face to his. "Life is cruel, Bucky, but it's a blessing all the same. I've walked the earth for over a hundred years. I managed to survive and find a reason to live. I made it my mission to help my kind the same way my husband helped me. My kind is now a protected species and we have a territory to call our own," she said.

"I owe him. He's the reason the two of us were able to meet," Bucky said, pulling back a bit and letting his hands drop from her horns. Phoenix picked up something else in his words. "Bucky?" she questioned. He just held up a hand with his eyes closed and a smile on his lips. "Don't you think it's time for you to go back?" he asked, opening his eyes to look at her. Understanding passed over the animal's face. "You knew I was holding my Road at bay, didn't you?" she asked, even though she already knew the answer.

* * *

"End of the line, sweetheart. But I do believe what you said. That this isn't the end if we don't want it to be. That you'll come back to me if things line up. When you go, you don't have to worry about me. Spending this time with you helped me orient myself. Just as you keep moving forward, so will I. I never have to worry about losing you," Bucky said. He tapped a finger on her chest where her heart was. "I'll always be right there. You...," he paused, bringing his hand back to rest on his chest. "Will be right here. We're friends. Part of me wishes we had met in better circumstances and that we had more time. But we both know where you belong. This isn't your world and you have someone waiting for you," he finished.

Phoenix closed her eyes in resignation. It was true that she had been holding off the Road's influence but it was also true that she had been sent back to this world see Bucky at least one final time. There were no guarantees with the Road. She hadn't lied when she said they could meet again anytime but there was no telling if her hooves would ever come this way again. Bucky was someone added to the long list of friends she had made on the various worlds she had traveled to. He meant as much to her as anyone she met. He knew it, too, and it was likely that he accepted this could be their last meeting entirely.

The chimera let her eyes close before she decided to share one last secret before letting the Road take her away. Her horns started to glow as her body shifted into that of her human false form. The gasp of surprise from Bucky met her ears as she opened her eyes when the change was finished. To her amusement, Bucky was slackjawed as he beheld her false form for the first time. She just grinned before closing the gap. Taking his face in her hands as he had done countless times, Phoenix pulled his head down to lay a kiss on his forehead. It was almost motherly in execution. When she pulled back, she kept her hands on his face and brushed his hair aside. His flesh hand slowly raised to set itself over one of hers. "So this is the ability you declined to share a long time ago? The fact you can turn into a beautiful dame?" he asked. Phoenix just jerked her head towards the ground with a light smile on her face.

Bucky followed her lead and looked down. The sunshine threw their shadows long and his blue-grey eyes widened a fraction when he saw that Phoenix's shadow was still that of her true form. "Where I come from, creatures of a magical bent can transform into humans. Our shadows show the world what we really are. This isn't the real me, though. It's just a form I can take," she explained. Bucky let his eyes meet hers again. He was still flabbergasted that she had this trick up her sleeve. His mouth started running. "You know...if this was the real you and if you weren't already spoken for, I wouldn't mind taking you out," he said before a goofy grin split his face. Phoenix just laughed before bringing her forehead up to meet his. "I'm way too old for you, honey," she said playfully. That was a bit funny and true. If they wanted to get technical, there was a gap of almost fifty years between them.

Bucky chuckled before pulling one of her hands off and, getting in touch with the man he had been back in the '40s, planted a gentlemanly kiss on it. "Goodbye, Phoenix. If we never cross paths again, it's been an honor to have known you," he said. Phoenix stroked his face with the other hand. "The honor was mine, Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes," she responded. They leaned their foreheads together again, eyes closed, before he felt her phase out of reality. When he opened his eyes to empty air, Bucky looked up at the sky. He shoved his hands into his pockets and started walking back to the house. Pepper came out to meet him. He paused, a bit wary because he wasn't sure how to interact with the widow of the man whose parents died at his hand.

Pepper came down the stairs and held something out to him. It was a candid photo of him and Phoenix when they were lying under the tree. The White Wolf looked at her questioningly. "I figured you'd like to carry a reminder of your friend," she said as an explanation. "Thank you," he said, looking at the picture again. Pepper gave his flesh arm a tiny squeeze before she went back inside. With a small smile, the old soldier started walking, slipping the picture into a pocket.


End file.
